Co-creating research with help from customers!

21.01.06 01:51 PM By S.Swaminathan

Johnnie Moore writes:

I'm reading John Seddon's book on quality management, I want you to cheat!. It challenges conventional ideas of managing quality through service guarantees and measurements.

He contrasts two approaches to using customer feedback. One bank employed a firm of consultants to do "mystery shopping" in its branches, leading to staff discontent at notions of spying by "experts".

A Canadian bank took a different approach: they invited a large number of their customers to take part in a program. They would write a letter to their local branch manager after each visit, reporting their experience. They discovered that different branches had different types of customer, so they were able to respond flexibly to the feedback.

I personally think if we can get customers to "partner" this process, it will yield results that third-party researchers can never hope to deliver. It will be more actionable, insightful and provide us with a few directions that can go a long way in building 'credible relationships' with customers.

S.Swaminathan

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